I 17
Last Attempts at 1J1issionary Control of Indians
Li pans set out after them, followed the marauders to the San Saba Canyon, surprised them, and restored the stolen cattle to their mission. u On April 13, 1795, a train of supplies, escorted by a corporal and three soldiers, started from La Bahia for Nacogdoches. The guards were given instructions to accompany the train which was to follow the lower road as far as the crossing on the Colorado. As the train proceeded unsuspectingly along the well-known route, they were suddenly attacked at La Navidad crossing by a group of about forty Tonkawas who took almost everything from the astonished Spaniards, leaving them only their mounts. The stranded party sent an urgent request for relief to La Bahia. The commander sent four men, all he could spare, and informed Governor Munoz that he had just learned from other Indians that the entire Tonkawa nation was encamped at this time a short distance above the Colorado River crossing and that a French trader was with them. He feared that a second attack might be made on the train waiting at La Navidad to wipe out all evidence, and urgently requested reenforce- ments from San Antonio. In the train were a number of La Bahia settlers who had taken advantage of the opportunity to go to Nacogdoches to visit friends and to trade. 13 The four men sent to La Navidad crossing had been instructed to join the others from San Antonio and to go as far as the Trinity. 14 The warning sent by Lieutenant Bernardo Fernandez of Nacogdoches in August of the same year was more alarming. He had recently learned from a licensed trader, accredited to the country of the Tawakoni, that the Comanches were planning a meeting of their braves on the San Andres River to undertake an extensive raid on San Antonio and La Bahia itself, ostensibly while on a campaign against the Lipan-Apaches. When Cortes was questioned by Governor Munoz, he replied that he did not believe the Comanches would penetrate that far down the coast and that precautions should be restricted to the San Antonio area. 15 The Comanches had made peace with the Spaniards and were friendly in a passive way. But they insisted that their peace did not extend to those Indians who, though friends of the Spaniards, were the traditional enemies of their nation. Consequently, when they visited Spanish settle- 12 Pedro Nava to Manuel Munoz, January 27, 1795. Bexar Arcniv,s. 15 Juan Cortes to Manuel Munoz, April 22, I 795. Bexar Arcltiv,s. 1 'Juan Cortes to Munoz, April 24 1 1795. Bexar Arcltw,s. 15 Munoz to Cortes, August IO, 1795; Cortes to Munoz, August 8, 1795. Bixar Arcniv,s.
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